


Dehydrated, Sun Burned, Fevers

by taylor_tut



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Desert, Fever, Fever Hallucinations, Hallucinations, Sick Character, Sick Fic, Sickness, heat - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-02 18:31:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11515011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taylor_tut/pseuds/taylor_tut
Summary: I have 1000 other fics to write....But I couldn’t sleep until this one was done. I don’t love how it turned out, but… eh. I hope it’s okay!





	Dehydrated, Sun Burned, Fevers

“This is such a crappy time to catch a cold,” Lance complained as he sniffled wetly. Keith winced as he watched Lance swipe at his dripping nose with his hand.

“I know,” Keith snapped back, “You’ve mentioned that.”

Lance faltered. He’d probably have blushed if his cheeks weren’t already bright red with the exertion of walking through this desert planet. The sun was beating down on both him and Keith and had been for nearly half a day now. They just had to get back to the Lions, and that couldn’t be too hard, right?

“I’m sorry, am I dying too loudly for your liking?” Lance asked dramatically, punctuating his statement with another sniffle.

“You’re not dying, Lance,” Keith chastised. “And I’m stressed enough trying to get us through this desert alive without worrying about you having some cold.”

Oh. Lance wouldn’t have complained so much about it had he known that Keith was actually worried about him. “Sorry,” he muttered, “I’ll stop complaining.”

Keith didn’t say anything, but as soon as a tense quiet settled over the boys, he immediately felt bad for snapping at Lance. He could hear his breathing, wheezy and just generally unwell, and he sighed. The overwhelming heat was enough to make the red paladin feel nearly unbearably uncomfortable, and the air was almost too heavy to breathe. He winced as he imagined trying to make this same trip with as much congestion in his face and lungs as Lance clearly had.

“Here,” Keith finally caved after several minutes of walking, “drink.” He offered a water pouch to the blue paladin, who took a few small sips and handed it back. Keith opened his mouth to scold him, but Lance shook his head.

“We’ve got a lot further to go, and we’ve got to conserve it as much as we can,” he reasoned. Keith couldn’t do anything but nod as he took a few small sips of his own and returned the pouch to his pack.

Not ten minutes later, Lance’s footsteps stopped cold. In the time it took Keith to notice and turn around, Lance had already landed on his hands and knees in the scorching sand, surely blistering the palms that were uncovered by armor they’d left in the Lions to avoid overheating. Lance started retching into the sand as Keith dropped down next to him, grabbing his hands and holding them up so that he could have the support of his arms without searing his skin. All that came up was some clear liquid.

“Is that the water you just drank?” Keith asked, his eyes wide. Maybe Lance wasn’t just whining after all. Maybe, in his weird, dramatic way, Lance had been trying to ask for help.

“Stop analyzing it,” Lance grunted. His voice was rough and strained, and up close, Keith could see how pale and utterly miserable he looked.

“Let’s stop here for a bit,” he suggested. Before he could go into any further detail, Lance was cutting him off by shaking his head and standing.

“We have to keep going,” Lance argued.

“No, you have to rest. You’re sick.”

“And I’m not going to get any better sitting here in the desert.”

“You can’t even hold water down; how much further do you think you’re going to be able to push yourself?”

Lance glared at him. “I don’t know, but I do know that if I’ve got a limit, I want it to get us as far as it can. I might only be good for a few more hours, so I’d rather spend them walking than sitting. So can we just go?”

Keith bristled. He didn’t feel like Lance was right–the kid was barely sweating despite the immense heat, and he looked like an absolute wreck. He was vomiting now, on top of the fact that he was dehydrated already–they both were–and sunburned. Keith reached out to feel his forehead and frowned when he felt no difference. It was obvious that Lance had a fever, but with his own hands so hot, he’d really have to start boiling before Keith would be able to even gauge his temperature.

But on the other hand, Keith really respected Lance’s opinions. He’d really proven himself a competent leader after Shiro had gone missing, despite the fact that it was Keith who had been named the temporary Black paladin. Lance made more of the official calls in moments of Keith’s frozen horror than either of them would admit out loud, and Keith trusted his suggestions more than he trusted his own instincts. Keith was great at reacting–he just wasn’t good at articulating a plan in the heat of the moment. Lance was.

“Okay,” Keith finally forfeited. “If you think that’s the best thing for us.”

“I do.” Keith offered the water pouch again, but Lance ignored it, shrugging off the red paladin’s arms and heading once more in the direction of the Lions.

“Let me know if you need to stop,” Keith called, and Lance gave him a silent thumbs up.

Turns out, Keith should have trusted his instincts after all. That revelation came in the form of Lance squeaking out a timid, “Can we slow down?” Keith hadn’t realized he’d started power-walking, but he cut his pace down by about half to accommodate Lance, and as soon as he did, he could hear just how pained and wheezy the blue paladin’s breaths sounded.

Jesus, Lance,” he huffed, “you sound horrible.” He turned around and caught Lance by the shoulders as he tried to force himself to stumble forward.

“Just a minute,” Lance wheezed, “M'trying.” Keith sat Lance down in the sand and tried his best to situate himself in a way that blocked the sun from Lance’s face.

“We’ll take a breather, okay?” Keith suggested.

Lance nodded. A pang of guilt flared up in Keith’s chest–was Lance acting this way just because Keith had accused him of whining? “You’re doing great.”

Lance nodded once more, not really listening. He’d begun shuddering and had folded his arms in tightly around his body. “The desert sure gets cold at night, huh?” Lance said lightly, trying to stifle a few coughs into his elbow.

“What are you talking about? It’s still like 100 degrees out here, and the sun hasn’t set.”

Lance looked confused, and that set off alarm bells in Keith’s brain.

“Then why’s everything so blue?”

Keith cursed under his breath and scooted himself closer to Lance, placing his hand across the blue paladin’s forehead once more. This time, however, he was deeply unsettled by the blistering heat of fever that boiled beneath it. Lance was positively burning up.

Keith took a deep breath. “You’re really, really sick,” he provided, hoping that Lance would follow.

“You said it was just a cold,” Lance argued. Keith mentally kicked himself.

“Yeah, well, I’m wrong about a lot of things. I told you to stop complaining, and that was wrong, too. I need you to tell me how you’re feeling.”

Lance hesitated. “M'okay,” he finally said. “Just–like there’s a weight on my chest. M'dizzy.”

“That’s probably the fever,” Keith surmised. “Okay, we need to–we should–shit. I have no idea what to do.”

“Two options,” Lance offered.

“What are they?”

“You go get the Red Lion and come back for me.”

“I’m not leaving you alone. What’s the other choice?”

“We wait for rescue.”

That one sucked too, Keith knew. It would be at least another hour before the other paladins and Allura were even expecting Keith and Lance to return, never mind the wait for them to think something was really wrong and to come find them. Keith cursed under his breath again.

“Okay, you keep this,” Keith said, handing the water pouch to Lance. “You’re going to need to stay hydrated. Promise me you’ll drink water.”

“Promise,” Lance slurred, trying his best to show Keith a brave face.

“I’ll be back so, so soon. Don’t worry. We can’t be far from the Lions now.” Keith was only half lying. Everything about this option felt all wrong, but it was the only chance that Lance had. There was no way that Keith, as dehydrated as he was, could drag Lance’s near-limp body across the span of the desert, and Lance needed help faster than it would arrive.

“Be safe,” Lance said, squeezing Keith’s hand as he stood.

“You too,” Keith nodded. He took off toward the Lions.


End file.
